The power of the chameleon, Adon thought. A much better—though naturally more expensive—option than Camouflage I.

Since he was now thinking about actively having to consume the flesh of organisms much stronger than him, the sneak attack strategy he’d just pursued looked extremely attractive. Some form of camouflage would make that much easier.

But when he’d read the description for Camouflage I, it made clear that it would change the shape and coloration of his body somewhat to mimic the environment where he spent the most time. Which probably meant the leaves and plant stems. Or maybe the ground, at this point? Either way, it wouldn’t do him much good, since he was quite fond of moving from one environment to another. And most apex predators wouldn’t be small enough to hang out on the plant stems where caterpillars normally spent their time.

So he would be camouflaged in one place and then look like a moving plant in another, probably. And he would likely have to get another upgrade or two if he wanted his Camouflage to be truly convincing even in the intended environment.

It’s a total ripoff, he thought. A complete waste of money, er, Evolution Points.

By contrast, from the description at least, Color Change I was adaptive. He would have the ability to change the color of his outer layers of cells at will.

Using this properly would require more Intelligence and Will than the average caterpillar would possess, which might be why he hadn’t seen other insects sporting the same ability. But he was far from the average caterpillar.

Adon remembered that scientists from his last world had only recently cracked the exact mechanism that chameleons used to change the color of their skin. Then there was an arms race to develop it into wearable technology that special forces could use. From there, the science became a state asset, outside the reach of ordinary civilians…

But not outside my reach, he thought. Not anymore.

It would cost 50 Evolution Points, but Adon could afford it, and this seemed like an obvious huge asset to him. It would be an edge even relative to predators as advanced as birds, dogs, and humans. He added this to his cart.

That’s going to be only 95 Evolution Points left, he thought a bit nervously. He wasn’t sure whether he would get Evolution Points when he ate the egg that he was standing guard over. I’ll make my remaining purchase decisions assuming no additional points. He moved to consider Skills.

Within the Skills, there were a number of interesting options: Mana Manipulation I, which sounded like it would make him into a magic caterpillar; Spine Shot I, which would allow him to fire his spines as projectiles; Adhesive Mucus I, which would secrete a gluey substance from his body; Projectile Venom I, which spoke for itself; and Projectile Adhesive I.

Spine Shot I has the advantages of being cheap and building on my existing strengths. If I got that and Spine Thicket, I’d improve both my offense and defense with only a small investment, a total of 24 Evolution Points.

He added both items to his cart. Then he went back to Adaptations and flipped through options some more.

He found he wasn’t very tempted by most of the leg enhancements he had initially been interested in, because as he thought about his future, he realized they would all be useless once he became a butterfly.

And he was trying to become the very best butterfly that he could be. Not just a really good caterpillar with high survivability.

Who ever heard of a digging butterfly? A swimming butterfly? Even a jumping butterfly would be a stretch, although Saltatorial Limbs I might be very attractive as a short term investment.

Adon kept scrolling.

To his surprise, he found that despite having chosen to invest in Apposition Eyes I and II, he still had access to some of the same vision options from earlier, along with at least one that he was pretty sure he hadn’t seen before. There were Simple Eyes I, Apposition Eyes III, Superposition Eyes I, Infrared Vision, and Ultraviolet Vision.

Kind of thought I was crossing a bridge permanently when I chose to get Apposition Eyes I.

When he examined the options, however, he found that they were not quite the same as the choices he had before. Simple Eyes I and Superposition Eyes I had grown more expensive, and they were both offering to allow him to grow additional eyes rather than to transform the eyes he already had.

The description for Simple Eyes I now mentioned that they would grow on the top of his head and assist him in determining the position of the sun and the horizon, which made him want to chuckle.

So that’s what my original eyes were good for, he thought.

The funny thing was that those would probably be very useful—if he could fly! Planes and other flying machines always had an artificial horizon instrument and an altimeter.

He considered whether to buy them now, and he decided that he would. If it would help improve his eventual flying, this was a wise investment. And they were incredibly cheap at 6 Evolution Points. He placed Simple Eyes I in his cart.

Next he added Infrared Vision. It cost 12 Evolution Points, but it would add permanently to his spectrum of vision. He would be able to see better at night, per the description. It gave him a slight sense of regret that he’d rejected Superposition Eyes I before.

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But Adon had made that decision because he wasn’t planning to be nocturnal. Now he was about to travel at night by necessity. He didn’t want to still be stuck in this thornbush when the bluebird woke up. He didn’t think she was going to just forget about him. And wandering around in the dark seemed extraordinarily dangerous without better vision.

So I’ll have just over 53 Evolution Points free with that… Hm. With Spine Thicket, I don’t think I need to upgrade my exoskeleton. Spine Thicket doesn’t seem to have an upgraded form, which means it must be a pretty thorough covering in spines, so it’s going to be very difficult to attack me directly now.

He decided to add Poison Resistance I and Mana Perception I next. With those added, he couldn’t afford much more unless he decided to compromise on saving some points up in case he needed Telepathy II.

No! I have to be able to talk to Goldie. Her web was still where he was planning to head next. He’d been sidetracked a few times, with the cricket attack, the bird attack, and Adon’s egg raid, but he was still certain the spider could teach him valuable knowledge. Either she would help him improve his use of his silk spinner, or she would give him more general survival advice. The spider certainly knew what she was doing. Goldie was still by far the most impressive bug he’d seen in his short life. She was also the only one who hadn’t attacked him on sight, which made her the ideal target to try telepathy with.

Given that priority, there were only 13 Evolution Points left to spend. At the moment, anyway. He glanced sideways at the egg encased in silk.

Before he made any more hard choices, it was time to find out how many more Evolution Points he’d get out of eating this egg he’d successfully stolen.

Adon closed the Evolution Store without emptying his cart or completing checkout. He began unceremoniously ripping the webbing off of the bird’s egg with his mandibles and consuming it. The silk might not taste like much, but that was free Biomass he was getting back.

Then he licked the edges of his mouth. The familiar blue speckled surface of his stolen egg gleamed up at him. It looked so much more appetizing now that he knew what it would taste like.

Adon smashed his way in as he had before, and he quickly fell into the same feeding trance he had last time. Slurp slurp. Gulp. Swoon.

This time, he tried to remain more aware and savor each juicy portion of the egg as he ate it. After all, it could be the last of these delicious bird eggs that he ever got to eat.

He once again noticed when the texture and taste of the yolk changed slightly—the texture became harder, and the taste shifted to something that reminded him quite a bit of chicken—but now it was obvious to him what that was.

That was a fertilized egg, he thought. He knew that chickens in captivity laid unfertilized eggs most of the time. He hadn’t known whether wild birds did or not. But on balance, it didn’t matter. If he thought he could kill birds, he would be killing full-grown birds. It was only natural that he consume a bird embryo if he had the chance. Otherwise, it would only grow up to kill him and any offspring he had. The only thing it changes is the taste.

But the sweetest element of the meal was checking his Evolution Points afterward. They had increased by another hundred.

Adon was able to add a few additional items he’d had his eyes on to his cart at that point. Mana Manipulation I for 50 Evolution Points, Bladed Mandibles I and II for 15 Evolution Points, and Venom Spines III for 24 Evolution Points.

That leaves me 24 Evolution Points left to get whatever else I might want, he thought. He’d spent so much upgrading his defenses that he was starting to think he would be a predator to be reckoned with now. He hadn’t lost many fights in his short life once he’d started to buy Adaptations. Now he thought he wasn’t going to lose any unless he ran into another large predator like a bird.

He decided to purchase Acid Fangs I. He couldn’t imagine how deadly he would be in close combat if he could inject acid into his enemies’ bodies and had armor-piercing mandibles.

Finally, he locked in his purchases, and he braced himself.

Before, the process of obtaining new Adaptations had been painful.

Now that he had attained so many Evolution Points and purchased so many improvements at once, the changes were agonizing.

Adon had tried to approach it like ripping off a bandaid, but it felt as if he was ripping off multiple limbs instead. Hundreds of spines ripped through his exoskeleton as the Spine Thicket grew from his body for the first time. The areas of his head closest to his mandibles boiled with a hot pain as those parts of him changed and re-formed to accommodate his new acid-injecting mandibles. His compound eyes seemed to sizzle with hot pain as well, as they adapted to his improvements in vision. There was a smaller, barely noticeable pain on top of his head where three new simple eyes grew.

Every area of his skin that wasn’t already feeling the stabbing pain of spines growing out of it burned with white hot heat.

And while his head had pounded when he gained his compound eyes before, this time it felt like a tiny person with a hammer was playing whack-a-mole with his brain.

Ahh! So much pain…

Adon’s whole body writhed uncontrollably for several minutes while he silently endured the pain. Then he passed into blessed catatonia.

Some time later, he became aware of his surroundings again.

I forgot how horrible that feels, was his first coherent thought. No, that can’t be how horrible it was last time. I would have remembered. I certainly wouldn’t have done it again! From now on, maybe just one or two new Adaptations at a time?

On the bright side, Adon felt certain he must be much more powerful now.

No pain, no gain, right?

He stretched a leg out tentatively and then stood up on the twigs he had lain sprawled across. Shook himself. Bent slightly to look down at his body.

Yeah, he thought. That is exactly what I asked for.

He was covered in so many venomous spines that he looked like he wore a fur coat. That Adaptation had been everything it was advertised to be.

But the thick coating of spines wasn’t the only thing he’d wanted to see.

Adon focused. His brain contained the knowledge now, implanted like a gift from the Goddess, of how to use his new Adaptations and Skills on at least a basic level. That was probably what that feeling like his brain was being hammered was about. New instincts being forced in.

He looked down at himself and activated one of his Adaptations. It was wonderfully intuitive. As he stared down at his body, he saw and felt the change.

Yes… Yes, it works!

He almost hadn’t believed it could happen, but his body had vanished.

Every part of himself had shifted color to match the brown of the twig on which he stood.

I can’t even see myself!

It was far better than any ordinary camouflage that he could imagine.